Coleman’s anger not eased by late show
ACCRINGTON Stanley boss John Coleman slammed referee Carl Boyeson’s performance despite Mallik Wilks’ injury-time effort rescuing a point against Notts County.
A penalty from Jon Stead, fouled by Seamus Conneely, gave the hosts the lead before Jorge Grant made it 2-0 after 54 minutes at Meadow Lane, finishing off a good move. But Mark Hughes’ volley brought Accrington back into it before Stanley substitute Mekhi McLeod was sent off with County’s Matt Tootle also seeing red for a second bookable offence.
And the points were shared when Wilks equalised in the 95th minute, but that did little to improve Coleman’s mood.
“We got subjected to baffling refereeing decisions. Most of them went against us,” Coleman said.
“You could use the word soft to describe the penalty. That’s probably the best word for it.
“No one has appealed. That’s despite them not giving us a blatant penalty first half when Billy Kee has been borderline assaulted. We’ve had two stonewall penalties second half which he decides not to give then we have a red card when all their players are telling me it wasn’t a foul.
“Where do you begin and end? Sometimes you just don’t get the rub of the green when it comes to decisions. It’s tough to take.”
County would have gone to the top of League Two on Friday night with a win but were denied by Wilks’ late effort as both sides ended the match with 10 men.
Substitute McLeod had only been on the pitch for a matter of minutes before receiving a straight red for a late challenge, while Tootle picked up his second yellow card in added time. But County manager Kevin Nolan was determined to see the positives despite sharing Coleman’s concerns over the officiating.
“It does happen against 10 ten men. We’ve got to take it on the chin, but the positive is we’re four games unbeaten,” Nolan said. “We could have had three wins on the spin. We’ve had a real tough start though.
“We’re disappointed because when we look back it’ll be a great point, but you need to see the game out and not give the referee an excuse to even it out.
“I’ve got to say I don’t want to keep talking about referees. It seems at the minute they need help. The lads are professional athletes. We need more full-time refs and linesmen.
“We should have seen it out. We got in a fantastic position.”